As an important application field of laser, laser medical treatment has developed quickly in recent years and gradually matured. Featuring small size, light weight, long service life, low power consumption, broad wavelength coverage, etc., semiconductor lasers are particularly suitable for the manufacturing of medical facilities.
Typical laser hair removal facilities include ruby laser (wavelength of 694 nm), alexandrite laser (wavelength of 755 nm), semiconductor laser (wavelength of 810 nm), and Q-switched Nd YAG laser (wavelength of 1064 nm), among which, the semiconductor laser has been proved as a safe and effective hair removal tool.
It is estimated that in 2010 there are about 5 million person times of laser hair removal surgery all over the world. Another important application of the semiconductor laser in the beauty field is to conduct skin renewal, that is, for wrinkle removal and skin rejuvenation. Laser is absorbed by moisture in the dermal collagen tissue to produce thermal effect, which stimulates the regeneration and remolding of collagen thereby smoothing and softening the skin, and providing the skin with elasticity. In addition, laser can also be used for treatment of dark, blue pigment lesions such as freckles, traumatic pigmentation, tattoo removal, eyebrow, eyeliner, and the like.
The most widely used thermal source in ophthalmology is the semiconductor laser, which can be used for treatment of refractory glaucoma, refractory intraocular hypertension after silicon oil injection, and photocoagulation and fixation of retina, and the like.
With the development and maturation of the semiconductor laser technology, the semiconductor laser exhibits more and more advantages and the application scope thereof is expanding rapidly, almost covering the application scopes of all other lasers. The semiconductor laser can not only make up for the shortcomings of difficult optical fiber transmission and inconvenient operation of a high energy CO2 laser, but also make up for the shortcomings of low efficiency and inconvenient heat dissipation of a lamp pumped solid laser, so it is a potential mainstream medical laser.
Chinese Patent No. CN1452465 discloses a laser hair removal device from Yama Ltd., Japan. The device employs a semiconductor laser with an output power of 5 mW-1500 mW and a wavelength of 600 nm-1600 nm for hair removal. However, the system has a low output power, small spot size, and nonadjustable output wavelength, so the hair removal efficiency is very low.